Another satellite will fall to Earth

05/10/2011

The whole world watched with bated breath the situation with NASA UARS satellite that fell back to Earth. Within a few weeks, as there was another threat of such a plan - another satellite falls from its orbit. At the end of October or beginning of November, the German ROSAT satellite will make an uncontrolled fall back to Earth. Although it is inferior to the size of UARS, nevertheless, it is expected that more fragments remain intact upon re-entry into the atmosphere. By estimates of the German Space Agency, there is a 1 in 2,000 chance that it will hit the person, which is higher than 1 in 3200 to assess the NASA UARS.

German ROSAT satellite was launched in 1990, "died" in 1998 and weighs two and a half tons. By calculations of the German space agency, about 30 fragments weighing less than two tons will survive entry into the atmosphere. Among the debris can be broken pieces of mirror. Scientists find it difficult to tell where and when it will crash.

As for the people, there is 1 chance in 14 trillion, he gets it in you. Heiner Klinkrad Service of space debris at the European Space Agency, said: "It is impossible to accurately predict where ROSAT re-entry into the atmosphere. Though any accurate assumption can be made only for two to three hours before the crash to happen."

What happens when the satellite falls to Earth?

As the astronomer Ian Griffin, Earth’s atmosphere is significantly slows down falling satellites. Most of the satellite will be disintegrated high temperature, which is caused by the friction of the atmosphere. For the same reason, we can see shooting stars - meteors burning up in the atmosphere. When re-entering the atmosphere, space satellites have incredible congestion that reach 10 g. In comparison, when braking at high speed, over which drivers have F-1 reach 5 g.

The reason that is so difficult to predict the crash, is that the density in the upper layers of the atmosphere varies in a wide range, which determines the resistance force. Error in just a few minutes, will lead to a significant deviation from the intended point of the fall, because the speed of the satellite is very high.